"I like that the skirt tapers off to the hem. This creates a VERY body-conscious silhouette. And the pockets and pleating draws the eyes straight to the hips. So if you're not good with your hips, thighs and butt, walk away from this pattern"

She was not kidding! My first thoughts when I cut the pattern tissue out were "how on earth are these pieces going to fit on 2 yards of fabric" (they do) closely followed by "how on earth is this back piece going to cover my backside" (only just) and "is it even possible to walk in this" (yes). The stretch takes care of the walking, but my side seams are swinging to the back a bit, in retrospect one size up at the back would have been a good idea. (This is a 12, no fitting adjustments).

Not very imaginatively I used a purple ITY jersey, you can see the true colour in these dressform photos below. I didn't take a photo of the whole dress on the dressform because it looks ridiculous!

I made a couple of minor changes:

I raised the neckline by about an inch, this is easy to do, just sew up the centre front seam a bit higher

I left off the topstitching on the sleeve bands. My thread is not a great colour match, I was impressed with my edgestitching on the bands and thought topstitching was pushing my luck frankly!

I shortened the ties significantly, they come down to the hem of the dress which looked a bit odd on me. Erica B tied hers at the back which is another way of dealing with them.

This is quite a different style for me having bypassed the whole tulip skirt trend and I am still getting used to the shape, but it is a really comfortable, yet dressy dress. I'm a little self conscious about my hips and something about the pockets is not quite hanging right at the lower opening so I may go back and try and fix that. Anyway enough chat, here are some more photos:

Thursday, 11 August 2011

My sewing has been a little haphazard lately with lots of things being traced and started, but for one reason or another nothing was getting finished. Before my sewing room filled up with UFOs I decided to get my head down and finish this dress - it's from the July issue of Burda Style, #110.

This is actually sized for petites, but the measurement chart is very helpful so I compared the petite and regular measurements and just added back what I needed in the bodice pieces by slashing them and inserting extra paper. Strictly I should have added some both above and below the bust, but from my measurements I just adjusted by 1.5cm just above the height of the front inserts so that I didn't have to mess with them, as there is some shaping built into those seams.

Other than that I followed the instructions - this is the illustrated pattern for the month - and I found them pretty good. The pattern is really well drafted and everything matches and meets where it is supposed to. For once I even included the pockets and love them! Naturally with the pleats and the pockets there is a bit of "pouffyness" going on at the front, which would normally put me off trying a style like this, but it just goes to show you need to step out of your comfort zone and try new things sometimes. The wide shoulders also help to balance the look as do the contrast front panels.

Here is a close up of the front panels, I just used the reverse side of the fabric on the cross grain, or maybe it was the right side of the fabric, I'm not sure - anyway the other side! The fabric is like a cotton twill but has quite a different texture on each side, one side sort of basket weave (I used this side as my main fabric) and the other side has a striped effect. I decided not to add the additional stitching around the panels and pocket edges and in keeping with this handstitched the hem so no stitching is visible on the outside of the dress.

The armholes are very high, I don't know if this is due to the petite sizing but is something to look out for, it's just on the right side of comfortable for me.

The back view is fairly plain and in dire need of a final pressing!

I'll get some photos of me wearing it in a separate post soon, I feel very Roland Mouret-ish wearing it!